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Blessings Chidakwa Municipal Correspondent
Harare City Council’s privately-owned company, City Parking, is under fire from motorists for hiking parking fees by 150 percent and withdrawing its credit facility that allowed motorists to pay later if they exceeded parking time.
Parking for one hour in the city now costs $5 and motorists are now required to pay $3 for $30 minutes while in the peripheral area of the town it is $3 per hour.
City Parking public relations manager Mr Francis Mandaza was at pains to explain the withdrawal of the credit facility.
“Nothing has really changed in terms of the parking laws. They stipulate that it is pre-paid parking meaning one has to pay before parking, not the other way round.
“If motorists’ parking fees expire they should just do like what people in cities like New York are doing to leave their businesses and come and top up for the extra time to avoid clamping,” he said.
Motorists fumed over the scrapping of the cedit facility, which they said was meant to exploit them.
One, Ms Maureen Mandaza, expressed outrage over the new fees.
“One wonders where the money is going. Is parking space imported? This is also daylight robbery, and shows a council which is divorced from the suffering of its people and cares less about their livelihoods,” she said.
Mr Samuel Mazowe also voiced his concern: “What is the money being used for? Buying luxurious trucks for your bosses. You have failed to contain issue of commuters. Now extorting poor citizens.”
Another motorist, Mr Bothwell Kagura, accused the parking firm of inefficiency
“You need to sort out your parking system first. We are being robbed daily because your system does not do an auto logout and you park for 30 minutes then you are told you parked for two hours. This is corruption. You need to sort out this mess first.”
Online Reporter